A couple of weeks ago while inspecting #3 with Eshel, we saw some capped swarm cells. I knew this hive would swarm soon. I had been hoping to catch a swarm in my swarm trap, but so far there had been no activity there. I needed a colony to populate my long langstroth hive.
The next day I went out to make a swarm split. The prerequisite is finding the old queen. I got everything set up and, with queen catcher in my pocket, went into the hive. I searched every frame, to no avail. I also noted that one of the uncapped queen cells was now gone. Disappointed, I closed up the hive with hopes that I would be able to capture the swarm when it occurred.
Nothing happened for the next 11 days, but then, while I was preparing the tomato bed, #3 swarmed. I watched the cloud of bees hoping they would cluster in an easily accessible spot in our yard. Initially it headed towards the lemon tree, but then veered off to the west into Paul's yard. I went over there watching it continue west towards the next neighbor's yard. Then it began to coalesce and formed a cluster on the trunk of an apple tree.
I went back to my apiary, prepared the long lang with two frames of drawn comb (all I had) and three frames with foundation. I found a box some wine had come in, suited up went to Paul's with a spray bottle of sugar syrup. I spritzed the cluster, placed the box below it, and since I was unable to shake the trunk, brushed the bees off and into the box. I place the box on the ground near the tree and went away for about 20 minutes. When I returned, the bees were still in the box and fanning, so I knew the queen was in there. I brushed a few hundred more bees into the box and closed it. On the way to the hive, I stopped in the kitchen to weigh the bees. The swarm was about 4 1/2 pounds, a good size.
I dumped the bees into the long lang and they have settled in well.
During this time, I also had removed the entrance reducers and started formic acid treatment. This year I am doing the single strip treatment as Randy Oliver reported better mite control. Rather than two strips for 2 weeks, one strip for 10 days followed by another single strip for ten days.
I wanted to treat the swarm as well. Since there is no brood or honey, it is the perfect time to treat with oxalic acid. This can be applied with a vaporizer, which I do not have, or by dribble. At the most I would need 20 cc, bur the recipe I could find makes much more. A little arithmetic and I made about 4 oz. (I had to make this volume in order to be able to weigh the oxalic acid with some degree of accuracy.) Using a 5cc dropper, I easily applied the dribble to the now ensconced swarm. It was gratifying to see all five frames with bees.
In another week or so, I will check out the long lang and add frames if needed.
